Tracey Gross was riding her bicycle home late Sunday night in Oceanside when she was hit by a car that didn’t stop — dragging her bicycle 2 miles down the highway.
Gross, 51, was critically injured and declared brain dead this week. She was an organ donor, and on Friday, surgeons at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla planned to remove her heart, lungs and other organs so they can be given to others, her family said.
The driver who hit Gross has not yet been located, but police suspect he or she lives near where the collision occurred — on state Route 76 and Singh Way.
Police have asked the public to help locate the driver and the car, which they believe is a silver 2013 or 2015 Kia Optima. The car will have damage to its right front bumper and right headlight and will be missing parts to the bottom engine cover, police said.
Gross was the mother of two adult children — Angel, 28, and Alec, 22. She worked as a postal carrier the past 10 years, walking a mail route in Oceanside, her family said.
“She is an amazing woman. She’s my hero,” said her mother, Kim Booth, who came from her home in Reno, Nev., to be with her daughter in the hospital.
Booth said her daughter was a “strong, brave woman” who “always stood on her own two feet.” She said she had a beautiful soul, and loved her children and family deeply and loved God.
“She will be missed,” she said. “My heart and soul aches for her, and we will truly miss her.”
Tracey Gross’ son, Alec Perez, and her partner, Jason Ochoa, planted flowers next to the freeway where she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle Sunday.
(Courtesy of Nicolle Nunez)
Police said Gross’ bicycle was dragged by the car and was found near SR-76 and College Boulevard, where it had either dislodged from the car or was discarded after the driver pulled it off the car.
Gross’ children, former husband and other family members and friends went to the scene of the crash Thursday, where they planted colorful flowers.
They want whoever hit Gross to turn themselves in.
“I can’t even fathom how someone could do that to a person, let alone my baby, and just leave them for dead and drive away,” her mother said.
Bill Perez, her former husband, said the couple remained good friends after their divorce and talked frequently. She lived with her son and a roommate.
When she didn’t come home Sunday night, her son figured she had decided to spend the night at her boyfriend’s place.
The family said it took around 12 hours for them to be notified Gross was critically injured in the hospital even though she had her postal employee ID card and driver’s license with her.
Perez, who rides a motorcycle, said he and his ex-wife had talked about being organ donors if something happened to them. He said Gross was healthy — keeping fit by walking her postal route and riding her bike — didn’t smoke and rarely drank.
He wondered if the hit-and-run driver was intoxicated, seeing as it was St. Patrick’s Day.
“She was a loving mother of two children that was left for dead on the side of the road, and we would like the public’s help,” Perez said. “Someone needs to come forward.”
